For the second consecutive year, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has demonstrated his unwavering commitment to the nation's largest abortion provider - at the expense of comprehensive health care for women. This morning, Gov. McAuliffe vetoed HB 2264, which would have redirected state tax dollars away from Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, and toward community health centers that provide primary care to women and their families. This legislation had been introduced by Del. Ben Cline, R- Rockbridge.

Surrounded by Planned Parenthood supporters at a veto ceremony outside the Governor's Mansion this morning, Gov. McAuliffe said his actions protected the rights and dignity of Virginia women - when, in fact, his actions harm the dignity of the women deceived by the multi-billion dollar abortion industry as well as the tiniest females, those still in the womb whose lives are brutally eliminated by abortion.

Despite its deceptive talking points about caring for women's health, Planned Parenthood performs less than 2 percent of women's cancer screenings nationwide, and provides no mammograms whatsoever. It offers, instead, the opposite of health care - conducting almost 17 times more abortions than birth-oriented services and aborting 160 children for every 1 child it refers for adoption. Planned Parenthood is responsible for nearly 900 abortions every day, a third of all abortions in the U.S. And yet, despite the fact that most Americans don't want their tax dollars to pay for other people's abortions, Planned Parenthood received half-a-billion dollars in taxpayer funding in its most recently reported fiscal year. It received this money despite extensive evidence that it illegally profited from the transfer of fetal tissue harvested during abortions.

The Virginia Catholic Conference upholds the timeless truth that every human being, born and unborn, has an equal right to life. The Conference finds Gov. McAuliffe's pride in protecting an organization that destroys life and harms women and their families deeply offensive. We will continue to fight for the day when Virginia law protects all human life, at every stage of development, from conception until natural death.